Spilling and leakage of oil onto the ground, and particularly an arable land and fields, as my happen in case of accidents involving petrol trucks, it is essential that the oil is collected before it has had time to seep down into the soil, polluting both the soil and the subsoil water. The collection and removal of the oil from the ground obviously becomes even more difficult, if the accident occurs immediately after heavy rains, that have made the soil soft and covered it with pools of water.
Hitherto, collection of oil under such circumstances has been carried out with the aid of shredded of flocculent cellular plastics which are scattered over the oil-polluted areas. One disadvantage inherent in this kind of method is that the oil that is absorbed by the cellular plastics cannot be retrieved for re-use. In addition, it is difficult to spread the minute plastics particles under windy weather conditions.
In accordance with another prior-art method a textile product is used which consists of a felt-like batt the fibres of which having been given a definite orientation in a carding operation and thereafter been needled or bonded together.